Youth Opinion / ‘I Wish I Could Walk in My Neighborhood Without Fear’ : Safety: A 17-year-old who sees increased gang activity on his streets wonders how the next generation of kids can cope.

“Hurry up,” said Andy. “This is the last hand, all right? It’s almost one o’clock. We should go to Sylmar already.”

“All right, all right. I just want to finish taking these fools’ money,” said Henry.

It was about 12:45 a.m. and my friends and I were in North Hollywood at Jay’s house. After finishing our last hand of poker, we walked to our cars to go to the races at Sylmar. Once around the corner of Shady Glade Road, though, we all noticed something strange.

“Man, my car’s gone,” yelled Kong. “Oh, man, what am I going to do? What am I going to tell my mom? “

We walked with Kong back to Jay’s house and helped him make a police report. He was really shaken up and could hardly believe that his car--a Honda Civic--was gone. Kong had spent countless hours working to buy the different components for it, and he realized that if and when it was found, nothing would be left.

As it turned out, his car was found three days later in Woodland Hills and, just as he had guessed, it was completely stripped.

Living in Hollywood all of my life, I am no stranger to crime or violence. Still, it always amazes me how violent our society has become. This may sound awkward coming from a 17-year-old, but I can remember just a few years back when my neighborhood streets offered the kids in our area a safe playground.

Today, though, I have seen friends of mine turn to gangs as a form of protection from local gangs. I have seen people being beaten. I have been chased and robbed. Yet I know that gangs offer solace to their members by providing a sense of security and a family they may never have had.

I can’t tell you how frustrating it is for me to always have to worry about getting jumped or chased as I walk home from school, or to have to avoid certain pool halls or restaurants because they are gang-infested. I’m not sure how to solve the crime problem, and I’m not too sure that anyone out there is really trying to do so. If they are, their work has not been very effective.

I only wish that I could walk in my own neighborhood with no fear. I wish that I could go to the pool halls and restaurants of my choice. And I wish that I could assure my friends that their cars and all their personal belongings will still be wherever they put them when they come back from wherever they went.